Hi FoLCs,
Sorry for the delay...
Summary of the previous episode: After breaking up, Lois is being transfered to the Daily Planet´s headquaters in London. Clark felt disheartened by this situation but not even Superman could convince her otherwise. There are only ten days left but Clark doesn´t seem to be paying attention to that. Why is that? Here is the continuation of Part 2 of 6. Hope you like it
. Thanks SQD
*****
Even Steel Melts -Part 3
*****
04/13.
For most of the world it was a work day, but for Lois it was preparation day-- time to get her affairs in order before her move overseas.
"Yes, Mr. Stern. Everything is almost set… no, no… I´ve already taken care of it… yes…yes…uh… they´re all signed… ok, I´ll check with accounting… no… yes… the tickets? Uh… it´s set for the 23th… ok,ok… I´ll be there at two. Mr. White, Mr. Hughes, and Mrs. Corbin, ok… got it… don´t worry, sir. I´ll meet you there at two… a quarter to two actually…," she said trying to be efficient, "Bye." *Ok… tickets set, apartment rented, meeting with the suits by two… no… a quarter to two, check with accounting, the two-weeks notice… what am I forgetting? Oh…sh.. Bobby big-mouth!!!*
"Lois grabbed the phone back up again and dialed a familiar number. "Pizzaelli´s?… how fast can you deliver two Tuna-mushroom-onion-tomato-bacon-ham-and-cheese crispy bordered giant pizzas? That´s right… two… 45 minutes? How much is it? How much?!?! fine… fine… you have change for a hundred? Alright. My address is…"
***
At the Daily Planet, Clark was talking with Stella over the phone, setting their next date.
“Yes, Stella…ok. I´ll pick you up at eight. There´s a restaurant in the Lexon Hilton you´re gonna love. Hmmm… don´t you think you could leave him behind just this time? No…no… fine. Bring him. Ok, see you at eight, bye.”
Jimmy came closer to Clark and saw he had this weird grin on his face. Jimmy thought it was quite strange and decided to ask Clark about it.
“Are you alright, C.K?”
“Yeah, why? Clark suddenly blinked, as if waking up from a spell.”
“Well, you don´t seem yourself lately. Did Lois give up on the idea of moving away?”
“I don´t know, but I don´t think so. She seems pretty confident that that´s what she wants do.”
“And you´re not gonna do anything about it?”
“Why should I?”
“Are you serious?”
Clark got up from his desk and went to get a cup of coffee.
“Jimmy, come on. She was the one who dumped me. And now that she´s going away, maybe I should try to move on with my life, don´t you think so?”
“But, Clark, I thought you…”
“It´s over, Jimmy. Assuming that it ever had a beginning, of course.”
***
“Perfect. He will be here by eight. I shall get myself prepared.”
“But it is still early in the morning.”
“I want to look perfect for the evening.”
“What is the occasion? Is it today?”
“Not yet, but soon.”
***
Inside the editor's office at the Planet, Perry was listening to an Elvis song “A Little Less Conversation”, dancing with his Elvis´ wig on his head. Jimmy entered the room as if he had a bomb in his hands.
“Chief, I´ve gotta talk to you. Jimmy stops in stunned silence at the scene playing out before him.”
“Not now, Jimmy. Can´t you see I´m busy here? he asked as he took off his wig.”
“I know, chief, but what I have to tell you is important.”
“What is it?”
…Come on baby, I´m tired of talking… “It´s Clark, chief.”
… come on, come on… come on, come on… “What about him?”
… Don't procrastinate, don't articulate… “He is not himself anymore. He said he doesn´t care if Lois is moving away or not. He is outta his mind.”
… Girl it's getting late, gettin' upset waitin' around… “And what do you think we should do?”
…Hey, a little less conversation a little more action, please… Both of them stopped and listened to the song and looked at each other.
“Didn´t I tell you the King ALWAYS had something good to say? Come on, Jimbo, let´s do something about it.”
“Word, chief!”
They both came out of the office and headed to talk to Clark. They found him reading something on his screen, but he seemed distracted anyway. So, the two men stood in front of his desk.
“Clark, son… Do you have a second?”
“Sure, chief. Waz´up?”
“Son, I´m a little bit worried about you. Is everything ok?”
“Yeah, everything is fine, why?”
Jimmy and Perry looked at each other and Jimmy left them to talk alone. Perry leaned on Clark´s desk and started talking in a lower voice.
“Well, I was wondering how things between you and Lois have been. Are you two alright?”
“She isn´t talking to me.”
“Still?”
“Still.”
“Well, son, if you want me to talk her…”
“No, chief. It´s ok. She has been busy working on that piece you assigned and there´s also the stuff with the apartment. She is trying to convince her landlord to break the contract, but he refuses to give her money back. I don´t think it´s the right time to talk to her about anything. Thanks anyway.”
“And… you´re ok with that?”
“Well, she will definitely be missed around here. But not unreplaceable.”
“I see. Good. I´m happy you´re dealing so well with the situation." *What´s wrong with this boy?* "Anyway, what about the piece? How´s it going on?”
“Well, still nothing, chief. It´s kinda hard when nobody has any clues about when they disappeared, but we´ve already contacted their clubs and asked for a full description of the men. They´re taking ages to give them. Personally, I think they don´t wanna find them. Maybe they caused much more problems when they were around.”
“That could be something. Maybe the clubs didn´t want them around anymore.”
“I don´t think so, chief. One of them was a very promising batter and was being transferred to a bigger club and the other just had his contract renewed for another season. I don´t think they would just get rid of them when they were bringing so much money to their clubs.”
“Yeah, you´re probably right. Anyway keep me informed. Elise!!! Can I talk to you for a second in my office, please?”
***
Lois was in the suburbs of Metropolis. She parked her car on an empty street where she met Bobby Big-mouth. He entered the car and she gave him a pizza.
“ONE? You just brought me ONE Tuna-mushroom-onion-tomato-bacon-ham-and-cheese crispy bordered giant pizza? But you ordered TWO!”
“I had the other on my way here! Can´t a girl eat???" *Gosh, how does he always know?*
“Look, I won´t tell you anything just for this.”
“Maybe a few hot dogs will suffice." Bobby reluctantly agreed and they walked away from the car to the next corner where there was a hot dog stand. "May I have two jumbo hot dogs and two cokes, please?" Lois asked the attendant.
"Ok, gal. What you wanna know?" Bobby asked, snatching up both of the hot dogs.
Lois gave him a furious look. One of the hot dogs was for her.
“Do you know anything about any missing ahtletes in Metropolis? Their names are…”
“Holland Rieges and Louis Cassidy… very promising players. They´ve been missing for more or less than two weeks. Apparently, it has just one reason. Women.”
“What? You´ve heard anyone saying that?”
“No, but usually when men just vanish like that, you can bet there´s a woman behind it.”
“Maybe you´re right." *What if Clark kept running away like that cause he had another girlfriend somewhere? Maybe he just didn´t wanna tell me…* "Anyway… I don´t give you food just for you to tell me what you think! I need evidence! What else do you have for me?”
“Hmm… I have a friend inside this ahtletic agency. I´ll talk to him and call you in a couple of days, alright? See you." He grabbed the rest of his pizza before Lois could jump on it and left.”
“I´ll be waiting. In a jiffy, you hear???” *Hmmm… women…uh...*
Lois was starting her car when an armed robber approached her.
“Lady, step outside the car, please.”
“What? What the hell…”
“Lady, step outside, hurry!!!”
“What are you doing? No! I won´t step out!”
“Oh, yeah? Let´s see!”
The man grabbed her wrist and pulled her out, pointing the gun at her head.
“I said out, lady!!!”
“You won´t get away with this! Superman is coming at any time now!”
“Reaaallly? I don't see him around, do you?" he asked, banging the door and starting the car again. Hasta Siempre!!!”
“Wait!!! That´s my car!!! you … you…" she shouted, but the man sped away in her jeep. *Where the hell are you, Superman?*
***
An hour later, Lois came into the newsroom fuming.
“Whaz´ up, gal? Something wrong wit you?”
“Ralph, now´s just not a good time for talking to me, alright?”
“Gee, sorry, I just thought you´d like to know that Mr. Stern called you three times before you arrived.”
“Mr. Stern??? What time is it???”
“Half-past two… why?”
“What???”
“What´s wrong, Lois?" Perry asked, coming closer to her.
“I missed the meeting. With Mr. Stern. He was going to introduce me to some of our reporters in London." She sat at her desk, defeated and looking tired.
“It´s not like you to just miss something like this. Did anything happen to you?”
“I was stolen. My car was stolen. And guess what… have you seen Superman around? Well, neither have I!”
“Maybe he was doing something else, Lois, "Clark said, interrupting her.”
“Something more important? What could be more important than this?”
“Maybe he was solving his own problems.”
“Superman doesn´t have problems, Clark.”
“What makes you so sure about it? Don´t you think Superman has something better to do than rescuing you all the time?”
“Excuse me, but who asked your opinion? This is not your business, Kent! Why don´t you just sit around and call this Stella and leave big matters to people who can handle them, farmboy?”
Everybody else started as they gathered around them.
“Oh, so you´re jealous!”
“Of that woman? P-LEASE…”
“Her name is Stella!”
“Stella… she could be the whole conSTELLAtion and I still wouldn´t care!”
“You know what, Lois? I think things will be much better as soon as you leave!”
“I couldn´t agree more! And if you can do me a last favor, don´t talk to me anymore!”
“Fine!”
“Fine!”
Everybody, noticing that the fight was over, tried to go back to their positions again.
***
At the Lexon Hilton, a few hours later, Clark, Stella and her assistant were having dinner. He was marveled by her beauty. She had a burgundy dress on and she was wearing enchanting and extremely ellegant jewelry as well. He was also fascinated by the woman´s manners.
“You look… stunning, Stella.”
“You think so, Clark? Thank you. I had so little time to get dressed.”
“Absolutely gorgeous I´d say.”
“Thank you, darling. You also look very ellegant tonight. But I did not come here to talk about clothing.”
“I didn´t know we had a purpose for this night. What is it?”
“Clark, I hope you do not mind, but I wanted to ask you a few things. Is that possible?”
“Go ahead. Shoot.”
“I was thinking about our relationship and it occurred to me that I do not know what kind of routine you have. If you like to exercise, if you do any diets, if you are as healthy as you look…”
“Well, I don´t exercise as much as I should, and I´m not into diets, but I never get sick… I guess that´s part of being brought up on a farm. You get very resistant to illness.”
“Oh, you grew up on a farm. Where is it exactly?”
“Smallville, Kansas.”
“And were you exposed to many diseases there?”
“Not that I remember." Clark chuckled. "Why? Are you a doctor, Stella? Actually, it would be nice to hear a little bit more from you. What exactly are you doing in metropolis?”
“Exploring the possibilities of the city for my experiments.”
“Tourist travels? Are you a travel agent?" Clark asked increduously.
“Exploring the possibilities of the city for my experiments.”
“You´re a scientist?” Clark asked increduously.
“You could say so. If I come the conclusion this place has potencial, maybe I could convince others of my theories.”
“I see. Theories… so you´re like those frog-dissecting-mad scientists?”
“Clark, I am starving. Should we order?”
“Yes, of course.”
***
At her apartment, Lois was talking on the phone with Mr. Stern, trying to excuse herself for missing the meeting hours earlier.
“No, sir… I know it is unforgiveblem, but my car was stolen today and I couldn´t make it to the meet…I know… you were all waiti…I know, sir… I´m really sor… yes, sir… another canditate??? But, sir… I´ve alreay rented an apartment there and all my things are almost ready to…I see…of course you should explore the posibilities. Do you have anyone specific in mind? I see… no, no… I understand. So, we reschedule the meeting to the 17th at three. Ok, sir. Sorry again. Goodbye.”
*What is going on here?* She thought, *First I break up with Clark and Superman comes to convince me otherwise. Now, we had this huge fight and Superman didn´t show up when I needed him. And then, there´s this Stella and the piece we should be working on… I don´t know, but my instinct says they are all connected. I guess I´ll just have to check on that.*
***
04/16.
At the Daily Planet, Lois was on the phone with Bobby Big-Mouth. She seemed furious but, this time, it was hard to define what was really driving her mad.
“Bobby, did you find anything about those athletes?… What about your friend in the athletic agency? Bobby!!! I need this! Ok, talk to you later.”
Lois hung up the phone and Elise came to talk to her, taking advantage of that brief interval Lois was having.
“Lois…”
“Not now, Elise. I have some stuff to do. I have to go to the real estate agency to try for the last time to break the contract on my apartment.”
“But, Lois…”
“Elise, do me a favor. Tell Perry I can´t stay today.”
“Lois, I need to talk to you.”
“Not now, Elise. I´m outta here for the day!" Lois said just as she saw Clark and Stella coming into the newsroom.”
“Good afternoon, Lois," Stella said indifferently.
“Hunf!”
“What is wrong with her, Clark?”
“I don´t know. SHE hasn´t been herself lately.”
Tbc...
MDL
